Belonging
by IOnlyKnowWho
Summary: A look at the Klaus/Caroline relationship post 3.11 in which he is always at her house and she doesn't really mind


People always joke that she can't keep a secret to save her life. But the truth is that she can keep secrets, very well in fact, and has done so in order to actually save lives, sometimes hers and sometimes others, several times in the past. That doesn't mean that she likes to keep secrets though and this secret was particularly difficult to keep. Every time she sees the bracelet or someone else comments on how beautiful it is she wants to just blurt out the truth, reveal that the monster who is supposed to be their biggest enemy was actually still a man deep, deep down. Instead she tells everyone that it was a gift from her dad, they may have found it a little bit weird but it was certainly a better alternative than the truth.

He had an invitation to her house now and seemed to take great joy in abusing that fact. With her mom never home he had started to come and go as he pleased. She'd gotten home from school or the Grill several times to find him sitting on her couch, lounging on her bed and just generally taking up space, always with that infuriating little grin on his face, as though he belonged there.

It's crazy of her then to continue wearing the bracelet, give him a reason to think he was welcome. The last thing he needed was encouragement but she felt an odd pang when she wasn't wearing it and dammit it went with everything she owned. In a thousand years the bastard had apparently picked up some fashion sense, most likely from his she-demon sister.

As soon as she steps through her front door she can tell he's there, it's a change in the air, his presence almost palpable. Ascending the staircase she opens her bedroom door to see him laying on her bed, she feels an odd sense of deja vu as she notices him flipping through one of her books. She meets his eyes briefly as he asks her, "Really love? You read this rubbish?" narrowing her eyes she doesn't immediately answer him as she removes her jacket and hangs it up. Turning back to him she lets out a sigh, "Really Nik? Boots on my blanket, again?" she truly didn't understand why he found it so hard to remove them before sprawling all over her furniture.

Pushing his legs to the side she sits on the edge of her bed and tries to work up the courage to ask what she's wanted to since the beginning, but it's hard and she's afraid of what his answer might be. Knowing that it has to happen eventually she takes an unnecessary breath, looks at him, "Why do you keep coming back here? What could you possibly want from me?" He remains silent for so long that she began to think that he was just going to ignore her question. It wasn't something that happened regularly but sometimes he'd go quiet and not tell her something.

No one would believe just how often they actually _talk_, the ditzy blonde and the evil vampire, but in the past month or so they've spent hours talking. He talks about his past, the good and the bad, and she shares the daily dramas of being a teenage girl, sometimes she makes up stories for him, trying to rival his own in outrageousness which always causes him to smile, laugh even. The fact is that once they get past the surfaces that everyone else sees they are remarkably alike.

Finally after what seems like ages he shifts, looks at her, because he never has a problem meeting her eyes, and tells her, "All I want from you my dear, is to chose me when the time comes. And it will come Caroline." The look on his face is one that she's sure has been on her own many times before, as though he's expecting her rejection, waiting for it.

She hates that he doesn't believe she will choose him when the time comes. She hates herself more because she knows she will. She'll give up her friends and her home, even though she doesn't want to, because they will refuse to understand that sometimes there is more to a person than meets the eye and she will go away with him to see the world.

She hesitates briefly because even though she tries to keep this man, her Nik, seperate from the killer she knows he's still Klaus and ultimately unpredicatble but she forces him to move over on her bed anyways, "Scooch," and curls herself into his body, resting her head on his chest, relieved when his arm curls around her, feels his smile as he asks "Is this your way of saying you choose me?"

"This is my way of saying that I really don't want to choose," feeling him tense she quickly adds, "but I will if I have to. And Elena would make a really horrible pillow so the choice is pretty easy."

She doesn't know how she would ever explain them to her friends. Knows Bonnie will probably give her an anuerysm and Tyler and Matt probably won't ever forgive her. She can guess that Elena will freak out, not seeing what a hypocrit that makes her, Damon and Alaric won't really care. She's pretty sure Stefan already knows, is waiting to use it to his advantage but knows that Nik won't let him hurt her.

Regardless she couldn't really change things now. As much as she denies it, to herself and to him he's a part of her now. When she thinks of the future now she's no longer alone but with him, Caroline and Nik, Nik and Caroline. Together, _forever_.

It has been weeks since the first time he was in her room but it felt natural to have him here now, he was there as often as she was, had moved her stuff and just made himself at home. As weird as it was for her to admit it he did kind of belong here now. Even if no one else saw it she did, _they_ did.


End file.
